NFLPA expects 2015 cap to jump $10 million

INDIANAPOLIS – The NFL Players Association is projecting this year's salary cap to be $143 million, or several million dollars more than NFL had projected in December.

If the players' union is correct, that means the cap will go up about $10 million from last year. In December, the NFL told teams to expect the 2015 cap to be anywhere from $138.6 million to $141.8 million.

"It's a projection," DeMaurice Smith, the NFLPA's executive director, said during a lunch break at the annual agents meeting at the NFL scouting combine. "I think that's important for a couple reasons. Last year bizarrely we had a few owners come out and before this meeting talk about a flat salary cap that ultimately jumped $10 million.

"After that we became convinced it was important for us to give projections because we didn't want in many cases general managers relying on information that was not supported by the evidence or our agents relying on information that just didn't make sense."

If the cap ends up $143 million, then after the Packers carry over about $7.7 million in cap room from last year, they'll have about $26 million in cap room, according to figures obtained from a source with access to NFL salary data. If they cut inside linebackers A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones, which appears to be a given, then they'll pick up another $7.25 million in cap space, to around $33 million.